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Doc Sara, Veterinarian

Category: Vet

Satisfied Customers: 952

Experience: I am a dog and cat veterinarian with a lifetime of experience in our family veterinary hospital.

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My West highland terrier had 7 pups six week ago. one of the

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my West highland terrier had 7 pups six week ago. one of the pups had to be put down because of liver problems. another pup was smothered despite the fact that we were very attentive and wanted to make sure they were safe.The father of the pups is Bobby who is a one year old westie who lives with us and he made Cilla pregnant.I should have said at the beginning we have 5 Westies a 10 year old . a 9 year old and three 1 year olds, cilla is the only female.the 9 year old is a very jealous dog and two weeks ago he got into the pen that we kept the puppies and killed two of the pups. we were heartbroken and I have never got over it. God knows why he did it but we have put it down to jealousy. he can be angry at times with Bobby the father of the pups.There are three beautiful puppies left. they get their first injections on Tuesday. i love them. they are in my bedroom at the moment in a pen. Even now they are an handful.my dialema is whether to keep the puppies. That would mean 8 dogs in the house but my main issue is whether the 9 year old would attack any of the puppies once they are 8 weeks etc.the attack is still raw. if I thought everything would be nice and peaceful then i would have all 8 in the house. i want to make up to cilla for the attack by keeping her 3 sions here.I am all over the place. i never thought anything like this would confuse me.HelpDonald

Hi there - I'm Dr. Sara. I'm a licensed veterinarian who works exclusively with dogs and cats. Thanks so much for sending in your question - I'm so sorry to hear that you've been through such a rough time with the new puppies. Based on your description, I would definitely be leaning toward finding homes for the younger pups. Having that many dogs in a home can be stressful for all of them even if they all get along well. If there's going to be some aggression issues (which I suspect based on what's happened with your 9 year old killing some pups), then it's going to be very very difficult to work out. I'm certainly not saying that it can't be done, but you might need to involve a professional trainer and expect to have the pups separated from your 9 year old who is the aggressor. As tough as it would be for Cilla to see her puppies leave, it would be much harder on her if she and the other dogs were living in a constant state of anxiety and conflict as a group. If there's aggression issues with your 9 year old (I'm sorry, I didn't see his name) it's not going to get better as the pups age - in fact I'd expect it to be worse. So I'm not saying that it's not possible to have everyone living together but based on your description so far, I suspect that it's going to be quite difficult to make it work. Please let me know what other questions I can answer for you :)~Dr. Sara

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